How not to get to the Isle of Wight
Discussion
This guy appears to have taken stupidity to an unprecedented level:
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/13357914.Sailorlucky_to_be_aliveafter_trying_to_cross_Solent_in_homemade_raft/
On a very calm day the water off Milford-on-Sea tends to be a bit choppy, mostly it is windy with a strong current. Maybe a 'proper' raft would have stayed afloat, but his preparations and construction seem to have cut a few corners here and there.
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/13357914.Sailorlucky_to_be_aliveafter_trying_to_cross_Solent_in_homemade_raft/
On a very calm day the water off Milford-on-Sea tends to be a bit choppy, mostly it is windy with a strong current. Maybe a 'proper' raft would have stayed afloat, but his preparations and construction seem to have cut a few corners here and there.
dudleybloke said:
Tealight candles for night navigation. Genius!
IRPCS said:
d) (i) A sailing vessel of less than 7 metres in length shall, if practicable, exhibit the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) or (b) of this Rule, but if she does not, she shall have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision.
I suppose it depends on the definition of a lighted lantern!!Presumably this bloke is actually a bit unwell, rather than just a daft, unprepared sailor?
Anyway, that aside, these stories always highlight how success is the defining factor between 'heroic adventurer' and 'idiot'.
That bloke who sailed to one of the Scandi countries in a Wayfarer years ago - sounded bloody awful but he was an experienced skipper and despite surviving as much by luck as anything else was a hero for it. If it had been you or I that the coast guard had needed to rescue attempting the same thing, we'd be idiots.
Anyway, that aside, these stories always highlight how success is the defining factor between 'heroic adventurer' and 'idiot'.
That bloke who sailed to one of the Scandi countries in a Wayfarer years ago - sounded bloody awful but he was an experienced skipper and despite surviving as much by luck as anything else was a hero for it. If it had been you or I that the coast guard had needed to rescue attempting the same thing, we'd be idiots.
What a prat. There needs to be a change of rules/new law to cover "deliberately being a bell end at sea and endangering life" with a £1,000 fine donated to the local lifeboat service to help make up for the waste of their time. It's a mildly amusing story but he could easily have drowned.
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